As Australia is set to impose a ban on engineered stone linked to a deadly lung disease in tradespeople , scientists are trying to work out just what makes the material so dangerous. The disease is a form of silicosis , an incurable condition caused by breathing in toxic silica dust after cutting and grinding engineered – or artificial – stone. It can lead to the scarring and inflammation of the lungs.
Silicosis has been known about for decades as an occupational hazard for those in the building industry as well as for miners and stonemasons. But the current outbreak seems to be more aggressive, striking younger workers and progressing faster, often destroying people’s lungs within a decade . It seems to be linked to the recent fashion of installing kitchen and bathroom worktops made of engineered stone, a relatively new material that releases a toxic dust when sawn or polished.
About 10 silicosis cases linked to engineered stone have recently emerged in the UK . In Australia, where the ban is due to come into force on 1 July, over 500 cases were identified by a screening programme. It is unclear why the country has such a high rate.
In the UK, though, safety bodies say it is safe to work with the material under stricter new rules, such as only cutting the material with special machines that contain the dust with water. What causes silicosis? Silicosis was usually caused by decades of workplace exposure to fine silica dust, present in various kinds of stone, such as san.
